High Blood Pressure (BP), also called Hypertension, is a risk factor for heart and kidney disorders and strokes. Lowering high BP, or keeping it normal, can help avoid heart problems. Here’s how you can do this.
- It also matters where you are overweight. People with a pot-belly – weight around their waist – are at higher risk for hypertension.
- To lose weight, eat fewer calories than you burn off. For instance, you could cut down from 3500 calories a day in the first week to 3000 calories a day for the second week, and then to 2500 calories a day for the third week and so on.
- Do it slowly, but steadily. Aim to lose one-half to one pound a week.
- Be more physically active. Fit some light activity into your daily routine.
- Take a walk at lunch time or dinner. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
- Choose foodstuffs lower in salt and sodium. Eat no more than 6 grams of salt a day.
- Check food labels for information of sodium in the food. Look for products with “unsalted” or “sodium free” labels
- Ride a bike to the supermarket. Stop a block or two away and walk the rest of the distance.
- Work in the garden or backyard, or go out dancing, or to an aerobics session daily..
- Buy fresh poultry, fish and lean meat, and fresh, or canned with “no salt added”, vegetables.
- Cut back on frozen dinners, pizza, canned soups, broths and salad dressings, which are high in sodium.
- If you drink alcohol, do it in moderation. If you have no more than 2 drinks a day, your risk of high blood pressure is low.
- Other things too may help prevent hypertension, like calcium, potassium, fish oils, magnesium and stress management.
- Maintain a healthy weight. There are many statistical tables that calculate your ideal body weight based upon your height, build and age.
- If you are overweight, lose some. Being overweight increases your risk of high blood pressure by six to eight times.
Tips:
- Don’t try crash diets. Slow, steady weight control works.
- Even light activity helps, if done regularly.
- Watch food labels and your salt intake.
Stop smoking. Smoking causes your blood pressure to elevate because of the stimulants in the cigarette smoke. If you stop smoking, you can not only lower your blood pressure, but you can also help your heart to become more healthy and reduce your chances for other health-related diseases like lung cancer.
Lose weight. Carrying around extra weight causes your heart to work harder all the time and this increases your blood pressure. Imagine having an extra 20 pounds (9 kg) on your body. That would be the same thing as carrying around a 20 pound (9 kg) bag of dog food. Try walking around the block while carrying this bag of dog food. Soon, your heart will begin to beat faster and harder, you’ll become out of breath, and you’ll feel very tired. Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you can’t wait to put that bag down. Imagine how hard it is for your body to carry around that extra weight all the time! Unfortunately, most of us are carrying around a lot more than just an extra 20 pounds (9 kg). By losing this extra weight, your heart won’t have to beat as hard and you’ll lower your blood pressure. An inexpensive and very user-friendly software product may be found for weight loss, fitness and health concerns.
- Avoid drugs and alcohol. Excessive use of drugs and alcohol can damage many organs in the body including the liver and the kidneys. When these organs are damaged, they can cause a build-up of fluids in the body. As mentioned in step one, extra fluids make the heart beat harder and this increases the blood pressure. Also, many drugs are stimulants. These cause the heart to beat faster. As stated earlier, the faster the heart beats, the higher the blood pressure goes. By cutting out drugs and alcohol you’ll succeed in reducing your blood pressure. Also, remember above where the common warning about sodium was described? Some over the counter medications such as simple headache remedies like Ibuprofen cause the body to RETAIN sodium. So, people who are already complicating their high blood pressure condition with sodium also are retaining that sodium more than the body naturally would which causes even higher stress on their systems.
- Relax. Many people have a temporary raise in blood pressure when they are under stress. If you have high blood pressure because you are overweight or have a family history of hypertension, then stress raises it that much more. This is because your adrenal gland releases stress hormones which tend to cause your cardiovascular system to over work. If you are under chronic stress where you produce that stress hormone every day then your cardiovascular system will naturally go into a state where it is over working. This occurs due to the fact that the stress hormone increases your pulse, respiration and heart rate, as in preparation for flight or fight. Your body thinks you are in need of fighting or running and naturally gets your body ready for either one. After prolonged stress one can imagine what kind of work the heart is placed under. Try taking a walk to take the edge off a stressful day. Make time for decompressing each and every day.
- Exercise. Walk every day for at least 20 to 30 minutes at a moderate speed of about 3.0 miles per hour. Study after study has demonstrated that the mere act of walking has a suppression effect on hypertension. Can’t walk outside? Used treadmills can be found at all sorts of online sites for as little as $250. The advantage: walk even as it rains or snows outside. You can even walk in your pajamas without the neighbors seeing you! But do yourself a favor. Walk every day without fail. 30 minutes is all it takes, daily.
- Meditate. Simply observing and slowing the respiration rate produces a significant reduction in blood pressure.
- Breathe deeply and slowly but not so slow as to cause discomfort, and listen to music if you like, while relaxing to lower blood pressure. Do this until you fall asleep for instance or in break time for 5, 10 or 15 minutes occasionally throughout the day.
- Take a soaking hot bath or hot shower for 15 minutes which can actually suppress one’s blood pressure for several hours. Taking a hot bath just prior to bedtime can help the body retain lower blood pressure for hours or even the entire night.
- Monitor your blood pressure. You can monitor your blood pressure by using a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. Know the different ranges in reading your blood pressure. What is normal varies for children and older people. This will keep you on track to lower your blood pressure according to the levels listed below:
- Normal blood pressure – 120/80 and below
- Pre-Hypertension blood pressure – 120-139/80-89
- First stage hypertension – 140-159/90-99
- Second stage hypertension - : 160/100 and above
- Normal blood pressure – 120/80 and below
- Try taking some natural remedies. Check with your doctor to see if this may be a safe alternative to medication for you. Many natural remedies and electrolyte supplementshave scientific evidence to show that they can lower high blood pressure.
- The top supplements for lowering blood pressure are coenzyme Q10, garlic, olive oil, black cohosh, hawthorn and magnesium and chromium.
- The top supplements for lowering blood pressure are coenzyme Q10, garlic, olive oil, black cohosh, hawthorn and magnesium and chromium.
- Take B vitamins. Vitamins like B12,6,and 9 can help lower homocystiene levels in the blood that can lead to heart problems. You can also find these nutrients in the daily foods you eat.
